Access Granted: the Power (and Potential) in Your Prayer

Imagine that you know President Obama (or your choice person with power). You know this powerful person so well that whenever things go wrong in your life, community, nation, or even in the global sphere, you can simply call them, and say “hey, powerful person. I need you to fix this issue because it’s really causing issues in my life.”..and they fix it. You know this powerful person so well that they can create opportunities for you or your loved ones to go to school, get jobs, etc. because they care about you that much. You can randomly fly to D.C. (for the free!) and go sit with them for a while to talk about life and all that entails. You essentially have the hook up for a lifetime. That’d be cool huh? Well, what if I told you that you already had that hookup, you just didn’t recognize it? Would you believe me? You, yes you, have that access to God at any point of the day, every day of the week through prayer. I’m here to tell you that regardless of what you’ve done, and what you’ve told yourself, there’s power in your prayer, and hopefully, I can help you realize it in a better way today. 

It's amazing to me that something as simple as prayer is so powerful and life changing. It's literally a conversation with God. It's you taking your burdens to somebody who can not only bear them, but can fix them on your behalf. It's incredibly important that we pray. Jesus prayed. Therefore, if we're going to be like Him, we have to pray as well. It's our communication with The Father, and how we can access His power. If we're going to talk about prayer though, I think it's important to note that God hears you, but He's not a genie. W often get upset because God may not give us what we pray for, or He doesn't give it to us when we want it. So after a while, we either get lazy prayer, get discouraged, or stop praying at all. However, if we do this, we essentially cut ourselves off from the solution to our problems. It would kind of be like being stuck in an ocean, getting mad at the paddle because we aren't using it correctly, and tossing the paddle out of the boat. Everybody wants God to (affirmatively) answer their prayers, but answered prayers don't happen accidentally.  However, I think that the secret to answered prayers can be found in what your pray for, why you pray for it, and how you respond to what you get (good, bad, or flat out ugly). 

1. What you say. (are you praying for the storm to pass or the patience) Since we know that God listens, it'd be great to start by analyzing what we say to Him. Many times, we come to God with this prayer outline or script. We recite the Lord's Prayer, or say "heavenly Father" at the beginning or end of every sentence, or start with forgiveness, then move to what we want, and end with thanksgiving. There's nothing wrong with any of that, but we have to be careful that those things don't become simple repetitions. I think it's important to realize that there aren't any special phrases that we need to say to get God's attention. You got His attention when you started talking to Him. It's also important to realize what you pray for must align with His will if you want His approval on it. I think that's where we get confused and discouraged, because it seems that a God that apparently loves me and cares about me would give me what I want. It's even in the Bible! Psalm 37:4 says He'll give me the desires of my heart! My desire is this car, or some more money...tomorrow. However, before it talks about you getting what you want, Ps. 37:4 also says that you'll get that when you delight yourself in God. I believe that this means that when you want what God wants, He'll give you what you want (say that 3 times fast lol). Now, it's not a trick or anything. It actually works for you when you realize that God wants to give you things that will be good for you, and not just good to you. This sometimes requires us to stop praying for the storm to pass, and to instead pray for the strength and patience to withstand it. I read that praying according to God’s will includes the need to pray in faith (Matt. 21:22; James 1:6), with patience (Luke 18:1–8), in obedience (Ps. 66:18; 1 Pet. 3:12), and in recognition that God knows what is best in all circumstances (Luke 22:42; Rom. 8:28; 1 Pet. 4:19). This takes a lot of time, because in order to pray for things in God's will, I have to know who God is. I have to listen to what He says. I've got to learn about Him, and try to understand why He does what He does. I've got to trust that while I want 'this', He knows 'that' is better for me. I've got to have a relationship with Him. I can definitely tell you that the longer I've known God, the more my prayer list has changed, and as my prayer list changed, my 'why' changed as well. 
2. Why? I personally believe that why we pray for certain things is just as (if not more) important as what we pray for. We can pray for good things and have bad intentions. We can also pray for good things, and not know what to do with them when we get it, because we prayed for something we wanted, but never really needed. This can be dangerous, because everything in your life is giving glory to something; it's your job to ensure that glory goes to God, and that the gift doesn't become more important than The Giver. I've asked this question before, but I'm gong to ask it again: why do you want it? If you prayed for something, and God said "why?", what would your answer be? Why do you pray for the things that you put before God? Is there a mission behind it? Or a mess? Sometimes, we pray for things to prove other people wrong. We want to show off on an ex or somebody that hurt us. Let me help you out a bit: you'll get more if you pray for God to heal that pain than you will if He gave you anything material. Your intentions and motivations behind your prayers reveal what's really happening inside of your heart & mind. Sometimes, we need to pray for better answers to the question "why". Praying with a heart full of hurt, pain, and bitterness won't get you very far.  Better hearts pour out better prayers, and better prayers get better answers. 
3. 'No. Now what?' What do you do when God says no? I've yet to meet anybody who gets a 'yes' from God to every prayer they pray, and that's ok, it's apart of the journey. So it's important to examine what we do (and how salty we get) when what we get doesn't match up with what we wanted. It's easy to celebrate when you & God are on the same page; it's those 'no's from Him that can hit where it hurts. I've gotten quite a few of those 'no's, and I've learned to accept them (regardless of how they feel). How? I keep living. Eventually, I look back, and see that He did in fact know what He was talking about. My favorite example is the fact that I used to literally pray for boyfriends (I was a teen & felt like everybody had somebody but me, don't judge me lol). I knew who I wanted. I just knew that we'd be great together, and that if God just aligned Himself with my desires, I'd have the most amazing life of all time. GOOD GOD WAS I WRONG!!! (hahaha) I'm still cool with most of those guys, and most of them are good men. They've got houses, degrees, and all of that lovely stuff, BUT there's a great price that I would've had to pay if God gave me what I wanted. I would have a lot more wounds. I've have quite a bit of heartbreak. I'd probably have the lowest trust level of all time (lol) because there's a lot about who they were then that I didn't see. Beyond that, there were jobs and other opportunities that I wanted, that I now recognize would've done more harm than good. So, take it from me, trust God's 'no'. He's doing more for you than you think. He's keeping you from some stuff. He's keeping you from some pain. You don't like it. I honestly don't think you were supposed to, but you do need to trust it. He's been leading people for a while. His plans and His ways are higher, so you may not understand them until you grow a little more, trust me as I tell you to trust Him. 

Prayer is one of the simplest, and most powerful aspects of our relationship with God. It's our chance to get some things off of our chests, and hear from Him for ourselves. There are many things that we will pray for that we will receive, and that's amazing. However, what's equally amazing is that even when He says no, He's working in our favor. If you've stopped praying, try it again. If you pray often, reflect on what you want and why. I haven't always gotten what I wanted, but He's never fallen short on what I needed. Wherever you are, whatever you've done, pray...and watch God turn your private prayers into public testimonies.

​Background Music: I Know What Prayer Can Do - Kevin Davidson

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